Forbes: Why The Mid-term Elections Means Stocks Will Surge

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Smart investors should consider buying stocks now.

The reason is that the market usually does far better in the fourth quarter (October through December) in years when there is a midterm election than when there is not one, new research shows.  Read more here.

Barron's: Turkish Stocks Might Be Ready for A Bounce -- If You Hurry

By SIMON CONSTABLE

There’s potential for some trading profits in Turkey.

 

So far this year Turkey’s stocks and currency have taken a hammering. But the recent stabilization of the Turkish lira may be paving the way for a bounce in stocks. “We think that the lira has fallen so much that it has gone from overvalued to undervalued and now is cheap from a fundamental perspective,” says Sergi Lanau, deputy chief economist at the Washington D.C.-based Institute of International Finance. 

Read more here.

Photo by Meg Jerrard on Unsplash

Korn Ferry: Do We Really Need To Meet Again?

By SIMON CONSTABLE

It sounds like something out of a Dilbert cartoon—having a meeting about a meeting—but it happens more often than many leaders want to admit, and this week it’s happening at the highest echelons of government.

Starting Wednesday, leaders in the European Union will be meeting in Austria to decide whether they should have another confab in mid-November. Blame the negotiations over Brexit, Britain’s exit from the EU bloc, for the sudden proliferation of such gatherings. This week’s effort will be an additional meeting to the already scheduled regular one for mid-October. The October date is considered too soon to expect any progress in the wrangling over how the EU and United Kingdom will interact with each other after the split. Read more here.

Korn Ferry: Beyond Theresa May

The talk is gettering louder—months after questions about Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May’s tenure first made news. Now, the opposition Labour Party claims it could come into power by year-end, forcing even skeptical UK executives to consider what that might mean to their business—particularly the HR side of it. Read more here.

Barron's: ObsEva -- A Small Biotech With a Promising Pipeline

By SIMON CONSTABLE

A small Swiss biotech company focused on women’s reproductive health has three promising treatments reaching key development stages in the next few months that could pay off for investors. Read more here.

Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

John Batchelor Show: Aramco IPO fail, Venezuela's petro fail, Turkey lira fail, Brexit unknown

By SIMON CONSTABLE

Forbes: Central Banks On Gold Buying Spree Over Dollar Worries

By SIMON CONSTABLE

The world's central banks are on a gold buying spree that has lasted more than a decade. That's the longest period of consistent gold acquisition by the so-called official sector in more than half a century.

But this time the motivations of the buyers are different than they were back in the 1950s, and they are worrying. That's why investors should take note, including anyone who owns the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) exchange-traded fund, which holds bars of solid bullion.

In the distant past, central banks had to buy gold because of its vital role in the global financial system. Now they are choosing to do so because they are worried about the dollar. In other words, they've been scared into this bullion buying binge. Read more here.

Gold Bars

Photo by Roger Attington on Unsplash